FEATURES & ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 14th-17th C RENAISSANCE
To bid farewell to the Renaissance era, a little recap to what we learned should be in order.
We know that some of the following aided the Renaissance: schools and universities opening to boys especially aided the spread of knowledge and thus humanism at that time.
Young people like William Shakespeare and co, were taught and became acquainted with classical reasoning and rhetoric of such works as poets Ovid and Virgil, historians like Plutarch and classical philosophers like Seneca, Aristotle, etc.
Also, English writers became radical and started writing in vernacular.
The 16th century German professor, theologian and Protestant reformer Martin Luther also aided the Renaissance when he proffered solution to the problem of having the Bible only in Latin for the upper class. He declared that the Bible should be translated into local languages so that the ordinary man could read for himself. Pragmatically, in 1534, he translated the Bible into German giving inspiration to others like James 1 of England who commissioned the King James Version later.
When and where the renaissance started
That the Italian Renaissance started in Florence, Italy, everyone agrees, but the when is where divergent schools of thought emerge. Some said it was when Constantinople (now in Turkey), the capital city of Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Turks, and fleeing Greek scholars fled to Florence with their scrolls, then the Renaissance began.
Some said the Renaissance was already on in Florence because of the activities of the Medici family who were doling out money to artists: painters, sculptors, etc. to produce their arts in public…
Others believed the waning of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the Black Death, and of the state losing their grips on common people as trade and commerce thrived, brought about the Renaissance.
Some people said it was when medieval men began to seek for knowledge beyond religion (secular curiosity)…
The cognoscenti said that when English writers shunned Latin, French and Greek and began to write in vernacular, and the movable press was invented making printing and distribution of printed materials available thus satisfying the curiosity of medieval men for knowledge, then the Renaissance happened.
No matter where and when the renaissance took place, the most important thing is that the Renaissance did happen.
Causes of the renaissance
It has been treated above (smiles)
Features of the renaissance
Features of the Renaissance include renewed interest in classical antiquity; a rise in humanist philosophy, belief in self and human worth; and individual dignity. Also, radical changes in ideas about religion, politics and science.
A positive willingness to learn and explore.
A faith in the nobility of man – Humanism. Note that Humanism is an awakening of individuality, a rejection of the supernatural or religion.
The discovery and mastery of linear perspective.
Achievements of the renaissance
One of the major contributions of the Renaissance is its artistic development and the contributions of such polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Also, the Renaissance laid the foundation for the age of exploration thus giving birth to European global domination.
It should be recalled that it was during the Renaissance that Italian navigator Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), supported by the church, set sail on the Atlantic to discover a route to the Far East, and he chanced upon the Bahamas. This triggered off explorations that eventually led to the scramble for Africa, rape of Africa including slave trade.
It provided a bridge between the Medieval and the modern periods.
The Renaissance brought about the rediscovery of Literature, Art and Classical Philosophy, Math, Science and Technology, Exploration, etc.
The best of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, came from especially, the Italian Renaissance.
The Renaissance was definitely a period of cultural advancement, progress in lifestyle and prosperity, for a new class of people called merchants emerged.
From the English Renaissance came such as the new open theatre, mythology and the classical tradition, humanism, religion versus magic, etc.
Rise of the Merchant Class is also an achievement from the Renaissance.
The differences between the Italian Renaissance and the Northern renaissance
- The Northern (English) Renaissance had less visual art while the Italian Renaissance was all for visual arts.
- The Northern Renaissance started later than the Italian’s and moved towards mannerism and drama – Baroque.
- The Italian focused more on improving different fields of human endeavours: science, literature, architecture, politics, religion, etc.
- The Italian was more interested in classical Greek and Roman mythology.
- The Northern artwork centred on humanism and landscape while their literature portrayed an increased emphasis on individuality (humanism) and satirizing established institution and the church.
- Italian renaissance promoted secular values; it is man-centred thus providing a new way of looking at things, a new world view.
- Both imitated nature through emotional intensity through religious scenes.
Patrons of the renaissance
Patrons are very important people. Patron means supporter, sponsor, benefactor or investor. We are talking money. A patron is one who has cash and is willing to spend it on a cause.
Thank God for all the reasons why the Renaissance happened, but if there were not philanthropic individuals supporting writers, painters, sculptors, and other artists with funds, nothing much would have happened.
In the Pentecostal world, there is a popular saying that “anointing minus funds equals annoyance.” No matter how gifted an artist is, without some financial support, that artist may never be known. It takes money to print and distribute and exhibit works of art.
Helpers of artists and literary persons during the Renaissance include: the Medici family, King Henry VIII of England, King James 1 of England, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton whom Shakespeare dedicated his first two literary works dated 1593 (his witty narrative poem Venus and Adonis, and tragic equivalent The Rape of Lucrece). The list goes on.
In our time, it should be on record that in 1985, the gentleman officer and poet, late Gen. Mamman Vatsa, (then minister of FCT) commissioned a large expanse of land (61.20 hectares, although it has dwindled to some 36.9 hectares of land by 2018) for what he called “Writers’ Village” now named Mamman Vatsa Writers Village on Mpampe Abuja near Maitama area of the FCT, Abuja.
Gestures like the above are very much welcomed because they aid development in arts and culture.
From the Ministry of Arts and Culture (both federal and states), ministers and commissioners, plus philanthropic individuals should make good to support artists for therein lies the development of a people.
Architectural structures might beautify cities and towns but if the people who dwell in them are not cultured, Bible says it is like giving pearls to pigs.
Nigeria needs cultured people, the literati – refined and well-behaved people who will employ dialogue – language to discuss and see ways of developing our nation and improving living, and not abusive language and violence to create chaos.
So, on this column, we call on both government and individuals to support literary activities, arts and culture in order to develop a fresh cultured set of Nigerians for the good of our great country.
We also commend the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG) Company for their many years of literary support in Nigeria. We also call upon 9-Mobile to please revive her literary awards and continue for it is a great encouragement to arts.
Inside Literature also congratulates Jude Idada whose children’s novel, Boom Boom won the 2019 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, with a cash prize of $100, 000.
Famous quotes from the renaissance people
Leonardo Da Vinci:
- Learning never exhausts the mind.
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
- Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.
- I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gainer strength from the stress and grow brave by reflection.
- Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.
- It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
- I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.
- All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
Leornado da Vinci painted the famous Last Supper and the Mona Lisa – he envisaged how technology could change the world. He thought up flying machines, a type of armoured war vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull. Also, he outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Yet, he was a student of philosophy, physiology and the humanities, not a scientist. He knew that science must possess an understanding of human nature or else it becomes an aimless play. Da Vinci came several centuries before his time in terms of his conceptions and productions – consider his tech conceptions.
Famous Elizabethan Quotes:
- Anger makes dull men witty, but leaves them poor.
- I know I have the body of a weak and female woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England too.
- Although the sex I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.
- A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.
- I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.
- Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.
- To be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.
- I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen, if he does not love me as a woman.
(Quotes of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England under whose reign some great revival came to Britain, also known as Elizabeth Tudor and Good Queen Bess).
Shakespeare’s Quotes:
- All that glitters is not gold.
- Brevity is the soul of wit.
- The course of true love never did run smooth.
- If music be the food of love, play on.
- What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
- To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
Petrarch ((1304-1374) Italian poet, scholar and humanist) –
I feed my heart with sighs, that’s all it asks.
I live on tears; I think I’m born to weep;
I don’t complain of that since in my state
Weeping is sweeter than you might believe.
Thomas More Quotes ((1478-1535) venerated in the Catholic Church as St Thomas More – lawyer, social philosopher, humanist and Chancellor to King Henry VII of England…):
– (How can anyone) be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep.
Marslio Ficino ((1433-1499) Italian scholar and Catholic priest, very influential humanist):
– The soul exists partly in eternity and partly in time.
– Why do we think love is a magician?
Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction of one thing by another because of a certain affinity of nature.
